Starring Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman, Viggo Mortensen, James Gandolfini, George Dzundza, Matt Craven, Rick Schroder, Steve Zahn
Written By: Michael Schiffer, Richard P. Henrick
Directed By: Tony Scott
Studio: Disney/ Buena Vista
Buy on Amazon.com link

I only saw this movie like 5 years ago for the first time and really liked it a lot. The film is directed by Tony Scott and is a really intense political thriller that any fan of the Jack Ryan-type movies will absolutely love! With outstanding performances from all actors involved and terrific scenes that will make you sit at the edge of your seat, this expanded DVD edition of Crimson Tide is a must have.

In the middle of a Global crisis, the USS Alabama sets out to the Mediterranean Sea and aboard the submarine for the first time, is Executive Officer Hunter (Washington). Captain Ramsey (Hackman), is a hard ass who’s been in the midst of battle and warfare his entire life and knows his stuff. The Captain & EO get along at first but then slowly you start to see they have different points of view on various subjects. It gets just a bit crazy when the sub is on patrol, and gets attacked by a rogue Russian submarine. Originally, the USS Alabama had it’s order to fire their nuclear weapons at Russia, but then their communications get caught off and they don’t know whether or not they are to carry out their orders. So Captain Ramsey wants to continue the orders and pretty much start WWWIII & a nuclear war. E.O. Hunter wants to wait to get the correct orders and to be 100 percent sure before starting a holocaust. Then besides a battle above grounds, it becomes a battle within the sub and a mutiny or two takes place.

I haven’t seen this movie in awhile so it was nice to watch it again from start to finish, plus with a few minutes added back into the movie. I honestly can’t remember what was added or not, but just seems like more interactions with certain characters to improve the development of the characters. I can’t believe how many good actors were in this movie. There’s obviously all the starring roles like Hackman, Washington, Gandolfini, Mortensen but there’s also actors like Steve Zahn, Ryan Phillippe, Rick Schroder, Scott Grimes, James Lesure of Las Vegas and many more! Definitely an all-star cast in my mind. But you’re really here to see Hackman and Washington square off and it’s quite an entertaining ride. I have to side with Denzel’s character in this movie because Gene Hackman just came off as a king time prick. So does Tony Soprano and Matt Craven but those guys usually play douchebags. The movie is a quite nail biter and keeps you on the edge of your seat. I like these types of movies a lot because they’re not these mindless action films, you actually have to think about this film. What would you do in those characters’ shoes? Me, I think I would side with Hunter because why start a war when we don’t have 100 percent proof that we should be doing that. It’s a good thing submarines don’t have to make that call anymore and let the President decide what to do, which is another scary thought but that’s not get into that now haha. This movie works on so many levels besides the acting, like the dialogue is great with some levels of humor added in like Silver Surfer discussions. The direction is also really sharp and doesn’t let up the entire movie. I really think this is Tony Scott’s best movie to date.

After seeing this movie for the first time a few years ago, I went out and bought the DVD because I liked the movie so much. I’m happy there is some extras on here now, which there should have been back when this was originally released. There wasn’t any back then because it was just the start of DVDs in the market. There’s 3 deleted scenes that weren’t that great so I can see why they were cut in the first place. There’s a featurette with the actors on the set goofing around and all that, and an old Making Of featurette that looks like it was on HBO or one of those cable stations. While there isn’t that much of extras on the DVD, its still nice to see that SOME effort was put into making this a better DVD release for Crimson Tide.

Crimson Tide could be one of the best submarine movies out there, but then again, I haven’t seen them all to really judge. But this film is definitely a good time and it’s quite intense. The acting is superb and the direction of Tony Scott was excellent. This is the definitive release of Crimson Tide to get, because the other one doesn’t even have extras on it and this film is a few minutes longer.

Features:
Deleted scenes
All Access: “On The Set Of Crimson Tide” Featurette
“The Making of Crimson Tide” featurette

Audio:
English (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Video:
Widescreen 2.35:1

Subtitles:
English

Favorite Scenes: Just loved all the mutiny scenes. Liked when the sub was plummeting down into the deeps of the sea, that was exciting…well not if that was actually happening in real life it wouldn’t be.
Rating: NR
Running Time: 123 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: